Uniformed sheriff’s deputies tried to sort through the chaos Friday as hundreds of people — spectators, reporters, supporters — filled the hallway outside the courtroom. Officials called for quiet among those waiting to attend the public hearing scheduled for later in the morning as a closed-door hearing began at 10 a.m.

Some in the crowd applauded as Lorri Davis, Damien Echols’ wife, entered the courthouse. Pearl Jam front man Eddie Vedder also traveled to Jonesboro for the hearing.

Sure, it was a cause célèbre and such … but the fact that, out of all the places Eddie Vedder could’ve been Friday morning, he was in Jonesboro, Arkansas, suggests that this case had a profound effect on him.